Sheet-feeding apparatus.



Patented July 10, I900;

I 5 Sheets-Shoat I.

N A .L Y 0 B .I U 3 5 6 0 N SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS,

(Application filed. Dec. 10, 1898.) (No Model.)

no, Puoioumo" WASHWGTON a c No. 653,207. Patenfed J'uly I0, 1900.

.1. BOYLAN.

SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Dec. 10, 1898. (No Model.) 5 Sheats-Shaet 2,

No. 653,207. w Patented lulylO, I900. .LBDYLAN. SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS.

A licaemi mm Dc. 10, .1898.)

5 Shasta-Sheet 3-.

(No Model.)

IISV 1 No. 653,207. Patented July 10,1900.

. J. BOYLAN.

SHEET-FEEDING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Dec. 10, 1898.) (No Model.) 5 Shanty-Sheet 4.

I nzfent orx THE worms PETERS co, Puoi'o-u'rua. wAsmNcYcN. u.

No. 653,207. Patented July l0, I900.

' J. BDYLAN.

SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Dec. 10, 1895.) (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 5.

WITNESSZS: 5114.;

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Nmc STATES ATENT Orricn,

JOSEPH BOYLAN, OF BRADFORD, ENGLAND.

SHEET-FEEDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 653,207, dated July 10,1900.

Application filed December 10, 1898- $erial No. 698,888. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH BOYLAN, a subject of the Queen of England,residing at 98 Rupert street, Bradford, England, have invented certainnew and useful'improvements in apparatus for successively feedingsheetsof paper or the like to printing and similar machines, of whichthe following is a specification.

anism. Fig. 4c is a cross-section of the sameon the broken line a b,Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a front view, partly broken away to economize space,and without the feed-board. Fig. 6 is a side view. Fig. 7 is acontinuation to the right of Fig. 6, and Fig. 8 is a plan view of thesame. Figs. 9 and 10 are detail views of the connec' ting-piece K I Theinclined feed-table A is supported by chains A A and .theantifriction-rollers A secured to its ends and running in thecornerguides A formed in the side frames A A of the feed mechanism. Thechains A run over the guide-rollers A and over the sprocketwheels B onthe lifting-shaft B mounted in bearings B in the side frames A. Aninclined plate A extends across the machine close to the inner edge ofthe table, and the edges of the pile of sheets of paper represented bythe broken lines P bear against it and are more or less featheredthereby. An adjustable curved or rounded separatingpad 0, preferablymade of india-rubber, projects from the top of the plate A", and thefunction of the rounded portion of the pad being to still furtherfeather the sheets as they pass onto it. For compactness and convenienceof adjustment the separating-pad may be pivoted to the plate A and besupported by the arm 0 projecting from the shaft 0 and the shaft may beslightly turned to adjust it by the screw 0, engaging the Fig. 2 is aplan view of cer- I paper completely onto the tapes.

arm 0 rigidly fixed on the shaft. The end of the arm bears against thespiral spring 0 carried by the projection O on the inside of the frameA.

Above the pad 0 a quadrant-or sector D is mounted upon the rocking shaftD and a feed-roller E is provided on each side of the quadrant. Theserollers are fixednpon the ends of a shaft or spindle E mounted upon aspring-arm E projecting into the opening D made through the quadrant.The arm E is pressed down by the spring E more or less compressedbetween the nut E on the spindle E resting upon the arm and theprojection D on the quadrant. A ratchetwheel E is fixed upon the shaft Ewhich engages the pawl E pivoted upon the arm E so that when thequadrant moves toward the sheets of paper P the rollers E roll freelyover the pad 0 and the edge of the paper resting thereon; but on thereturn stroke the rollers are prevented by the pawl from rotating.Consequently the uppermost sheet is drawn off and its edge brought overthe first taperoller F, which is in rotation, and, in conjunction withthe rollers E, completely draws oif the sheet of paper and passes itonto the tapes. The vibration of the quadrant D is sufficient to movethe rollers E from the position shown to one immediately over thetaperoller, with which they cooperate to pass the The feedrollers E arepreferably made with an outer covering of india-rubber e, as shown inFig. 4, with an annular cushion c of spongy rubber, beneath, mountedupon a wooden or other suitable boss e fixed upon the shaft A spring,cork, or other suitable rubber or scraper G is provided to lightly bearupon the periphery of the roller E topreserve the clingy nature of therubber face;

The quadrant D during its movement presses more or less upon the paperand also while the sheet is withdrawn, thus tending to hold back againstthe pad 0 all the sheets excepting the upper one.

The rocking shaft D is rockedby its arn'r Dicarrying anantifriction-roller Dflen'gaging a cam-groove D formed in the inner faceof the wheel D which wheel is driven in the manner hereinafterdescribed.

The table Ais lifted to gradually raise the pile of sheets P as theybecome reduced in height by the rotation of the sprocket-wheels B,raising the chains A having balanceweights '5 on the free end. Thelifting-shaft B upon which the wheels are mounted, is driven by theratchet-wheel B, the pawl 13 of which is pivoted on the lever B, looselymounted upon the shaft 13 and this lever is vibrated by the rod Bcoupling it to the stud B fixed in a collar don the shaft D To preventthe pawl moving the ratchet at every stroke, the inclined pendent arm His loosely mounted on the shaft 13 and carries a star or roller H at itsfree end, which rests upon the pile of sheets P. This arm has a screw Hadjustahly fixed in the projection H and at each backward movement ofthe pawl B the'end of the screw engages a projection B on the pawl andprevents said pawl falling into the next tooth of the ratchet until thepile of sheets beneath becoming so reduced the arm H is lowered to suchan extent that the pawl falls into the next tooth before its projection13 engages the screw H The roller H is preferably made more or lessstar-shaped, so that when it is rotated by the withdrawal of a sheet thevibration thereby created tends to assist in feathering the sheets.

Asa further means of feathering the sheets I employ a vibrating strokeror finger J, the free end of which bears upon the sheet when it movestoward the feed-rollers E, and it is lifted more or less out of contactwith the paper during its reverse movement. The stroker J is pivoted tothe end of the arm-J on the cross-stay J which is actuated by the stud Jon the quadrant D engaging the slot J in the arm J, connected to J Thisstay also carries two bearing-arms K, in which the shaft K is mounted,and the arm K on this shaft is coupled by the rod K to the end of thestroker J. The shaft K is rocked to raise .and lower the stroker by itsarm K to the end of which the connecting-piece K is coupled. Theconnecting-piece K has a forked end K embracing the shaft N, and the camK on such shaft engages the projection K on the connecting-piece toactuate it. Figs. 9 and 10 represent two views of the connectingpiece.

To register the position of the sheets laterally,;the tape-rollers ortheir equivalent as well as the bottom lay are moved longitudinallyto'bring the side of the sheet against the side lay or stop. For thispurpose the cam O is provided on the shaft N to reciprocate the rod 0which is made with aslot fitting the shaft N and is provided with anantifriction-roller O to engage the cam. The stud carrying the roller 0is fixed by the setscrew 0 and when it is required to work the other layit is simply necessary to reverse the position of the stud and roller tothe other side of the rod, so that it can engage the other cam 0 Theother end of the rod 0 is'coupled to the lever B on the stud R and thethe link T and is vibrated thereby.

parts are so arranged that at every alternate other arm R of the leveris bent down and engages the slide-piece R the inner end of which ismade with claws R to clip into the groove F in the bottom tape-roller FAn arm S on the bottom lay-rod S is connected to the slide R and causesthe rod to move with the slide. A spring 5 stretched between a pin S onthe rod S and a pin S in the rodbearing S is provided to return theparts to their normal position and keep the antifriction-roller 0against its cam.

The wheel D is driven by the rod T from a crank T on the cam-shaft T ofthe printingmachine. The rod T is coupled in the middle by the link T tothe fixed stud T and a stud T fixed in the opposite end of the rod,

engages a short radial slot T in thewheels D To enable the feed to bereadily stopped,

the slot T is not directly made in the wheel D but is formed in the armU, loosely mounted upon the shaft N, and is coupled to the shaft by thepawl U engaging the projection U on the disk U rigidly secured to theshaft. The pawl is held in position by the internal spring-pin U bearingagainst the fiat U This permits the pawl to spring back against the diskU afterit has been sufficiently moved to disengage it from theprojection U but if moved a little more than that it remainsdisengaged.-

If it is only required to feed a sheet every alternate revolution of thecam-shaft T the triangular piece W mounted on the stud W and driven bythe ratchet is provided. The ratchet-wheel is driven by the pawl Vmounted upon one arm of the lever W mounted upon the stud W and theother arm of the lever is coupled by the rod W to The movement of theratchet W the piece W engages the projection W on the pawl U and bydisengaging it from the projection U prevents the wheel D from beingdriven.

I The tape-roller F is driven by the wheel D and to intermittently stopthe tape-rollers a portion of the wheel D is made Without teeth and isprovided with a concentrically-curved projection Fgwhich'as it movespast the roller engages one of the curved sides F of the checkpiece F onthe roller-shaft and holds it stationary until F has passed.

The operation of the feeding mechanism is as follows: A pile of sheets Pis placed on the table A and the height of the latter is adjusted so asto bring the front edge of the uppermost" sheet level with or slightlyhigher than the commencement of the pad 0. The pad 0 is adjusted to sucha position in relation to the quadrant D that when a sheet of paper is"passed between them the quadrant presses lightly upon it with sufficientpressure to practically prevent two sheets passing together-tl1at is tosay, the pressure of the pad upon the second sheet prevents it passingalong with the upper sheet. When the-machine is put into action, thestroker K, operating on the top of the pile in a somewhat-similarfashion to the ordinary hand-stroker, presses the upper sheets forwardup the curved or inclined face of the pad in a finelyfeathered state. Assoon as the uppermost sheet is sufliciently advanced in this way therollers E engage its edge and draw it forwad onto the tape-roller F,which is then in rotation, and the sheet is completely drawn off by theunited action of the tape-roller and the rollers E. In this way thesheets are successively fed onto the tapes F and the pile of sheets isgradually raised by the above-described table-lifting mechanism to keepthe top of the pile at a practically-uniform level. The motion of thetapes F is continued after the front edge of the sheet reaches the usualfront gages F and the above-mentioned longitudinal motion is imparted tothe taperoller F. This gives a lateral movement to the tapes, but asthey are still in motion the pressure of the front edge of the sheetagainst the front gages prevents the sheet moving laterally with thetapes until the side lay l? engages the side of the sheet. Then theunited action of the side lay and the lateral movement of the tapes aresufficient to move the sheet sidewise to the extent of the inwardmovement of the side lay. In this manner each sheet is successivelybrought into exactly the same position. NVhen the sheet is printed onboth sides, the lay F is used when the second printing takes place, sothat the same edge of the sheet is used for registering it laterally forboth printings.

I claim- 1. In combination, the table, the quadrant D, means for movingthe same, the rollers E carried by the quadrant and bearing upon thepaper, means carried by the quadrant for pressing the rollers onto thepaper and the pawl and ratchet for holding the roller against movementin one direction, the said quadrant also bearing on the paper to holdback all of the sheets excepting the top one of the pile, substantiallyas described.

2. In combination, the table, the quadrant carrying the bearing-roller,means for moving the quadrant, the feathering-finger J, the vi-' bratingarm carrying the same, the pin on the quadrant engaging a part on thevibrating arm for operating the same, the rod K for raising the fingerconnected thereto and means for raising and lowering the rod Ksubstantially as described.

3. In combination, the table, the quadrant for feeding the paper sheetsoff from said table and means for operating the quadrant comprising theshaft N, the arm U loosely mounted thereon, a pawl U engaging aprojection connected with the shaft N and automaticallyoperating meansfor throwing said pawl out of operation, substantially as described.

4. In combination, the table, the quadrant, means for lifting the tablecomprising a pawland-ratchet mechanism, controlling means bearing on thepaper pile to throw the pawl out of operation, means for operating thequadrant, a pawl controlling said means and means for throwing the pawlout of operation, substantially as described.

5. In combination, the table, the quadrant, the rock-shaft D for rockingthe quadrant, the gear-wheel D havinga cam-groove, the arm D on theshaft D engaging a cam-groove in the wheel D a pawl carried thereby andmeans for operating the wheel D comprising the pawl with means forthrowing it out of operation consisting of the star-wheel with means foroperating the same, substantially as described.

6. In combination, the table, the quadrant, the gear D having acam-groove, means operated thereby for rocking the quadrant andthetape-roller having a check-piece, the said wheel D having a toothedportion and a plain portion, the latter of which engages the checkpieceto hold the tape-roller from movement, substantially as described.

7. In combination, the table, the quadrant, means for oscillating thesame comprising the pawl and disk with projections, and the loose armcarrying said pawl, the rod T connected to the arm, the crank forreciprocating the red, the star-wheel controlling the pawl and meanscontrolling the star-wheel consisting of the'link T and the rod Wconnected to the star-wheel and to the link, substantially as described.

8. In combination, the tape-roller, the claws engaging agroove thereinand'a cam with connections to the claw for moving the taperollerlongitudinally, substantially as described.

In'witness whereof I have hereunto set my handin presence of twowitnesses.

JOSEPH BOYLAN.

Witnesses:

D. NowELL, SAMUEL A. DRACUP.

